Thursday, February 27, 2014

Indefinite article exercises

Fill in the blanks with a/an.If no article is necessary, then leave a blank space.

1.He bought me ... red rose.
2. ... good friend always helps you.
3.... clothes define my personality.
4. ... smart student always manages to have good grades.
5.It is ... pity thar you cannot come to the party.
6.There is always ...way of becoming succesful,all you need to do is find it.
7.Poor countries are confronted with ... lack of food.
8.It is actually ... mystery how the Egyptians built the pyramids.
9.Don't hurry.Do one thing at... time.
10.Snow White was ...very kind young lady.
11.He cannot buy me ...present,let alone pay for a trip abroad.
12.She went to Spain for ...year in ... exchange programe.
13. I am ... little confused about how he treats me.
14.Can you have ... look at my homework?
15.I need to find ...place where to live.
16.There is not much ... room in here.We are crammed.
17.You cannot actually say that she is ... beauty.
18.Me and my husband had ...fight last night.
19.He does not stand ...chance in the competition.
20. I like to drink...milk.
21.He made ...fortune playing the lottery.
22.Could you please buy ...bread?
23. He never takes ...responsibility for what he says.
24. He reached ...high level of authority and since then he is ...tyrant.
25. She has such ... small nose that you can barely see it.
26. There is ... great deal of truth in what she says.
27. There is no ... way I can solve this exercise.
28. It is beyond the shadow of ... doubt that he is the criminal.
29. I have heard ... strange noise coming from the cellar.
30. I want to eat ... piece of meat.
31. He has ... lot of success in his career.
32. I have just watched... newer version of the movie Robocop.
33. I need to take ... painkiller for my back pain.
34. Managing your company involves having ... high level of educational backgroud as well as ... sense of duty and responsibility.
35. I live in ... region with ... rich culture.
36. I need ... peace in my life as well as ... new wife.
37. I visited ... English community a few months ago.
38. This is the first time I see ... rain and ... snow.
39. ... old aged woman is wiser than ... young lady.

40. There is nothing better than ...good beer from time to ...time




15.a
16. -
17. a
18. a
19.a
20. -
21. a
22. -
23.-
24. a
25.a
26.a
27. -
28.a
29.a
30.a
31.a
32. a
33. a
34. a,a
35.a,a
36.- a
37. an
38. -,-
39. an, a
40. a, -

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

How to start ANY English sentence-Types of subjects

As you all know, the smallest sentence in English contains at least a subject and a predicate.The predicate is always a verb but the subject can be a noun or a pronoun of differen types.

The position of the subject:

Many students do not know where to put the subject.Normally , we start the sentence with the subject:
Mary is eating an apple.
The adverbs of frequency normally come after the subject:
Mary always eats an apple in the evening.
and not:
*Always Mary eats an apple in the evening.

You can never start the sentence with: always,never,often,rarely:
*Never he comes to visit me.
However,we ca use them at the beginning if we use the imperative:
Never touch that!
Always listen to your parents!

Adverbs such as: sometimes,usually,regularly,generally , can be used before or after the subject.
I sometimes want to learn Chinese.
Sometimes I want to learn Chinese.

Adverbs such as however,nevertheless,though,although, are always placed at the beginning of the sentence.
Nevertheless,I want to have a chat with him.
Although he is a nice person,he sometimes tends to lie.

I created a list of all the possible nouns one can use in English:

Types of subjects:



Common nouns of any type:
Cats are nice
Women are beautiful.
The book is cheap

Proper names (which go in capital letter):

Argentina is a beautiful country.
Maria is a doctor.

Pronouns


Personal pronouns:

I am a teacher.
You are a student.

The it pronoun is a special case because it is used :
-in impersonal expressions such as:
It is a pity that you cannot come.
It is better to call your friends from time to time.
-impersonal verbs such as : rain,snow
It is raining
It is snowing
-weather expressions:

It is windy.
It is hot
It is warm

-it replacing a noun we already used:
-Did you eat the chocolate cake?
-Yes,it was really good.

Indefinite pronouns:

Somebody gave me once a very wise book.
Anyone can learn English
Nobody helps me clean the house.

Gerunds (verbs ending in -ing):

Learning English is easy.
Cooking is my hobby.

For the more advanced students the following strucutures might also represent
a cause of doubts and mistakes.
I refer to the subordinate clauses such as :
I want to tell you that my sister loves English
The 'that' sentence contains a subject (my sister) and a predicate (loves) just like any normal sentence.
Many students forget to put the subject in such constructions and the result is something like:

*I want to tell you that loves English
The rule is that any type of sentence needs a subject (of any type just like the ones above)
Other examples:
I am sure that dancing is fun.
My mom told me that someone will become my husband one day.
Doctors say that anyone can become fat with an unbalanced diet.
You must always remember that nobody is imortal.
-Do you like my new car?
I have to admit that it is gorgeous.


Relative clauses:

In this case pronouns such as who or which are subjects in the sentence they introduce:
I am talking to the girl who won the prize. (who= she won the prize)
That girl,who wears a blue dress, is my friend. (who=that girl wears a blue dress)

I love the movies which make me feel happy.(which=the movies make me happy)
The clothes which make me look good are expensive. (which=the clothes make me look good)

I want to know what you did with my book. -in this case what is not the subject ;The subject is you 


Sunday, February 2, 2014

The indefinite article part 2



The indefinite article can be used to refer to:
-categories (one element represents the whole class or gender)
A cat is an animal.
An American is a person who lives in America.
An employee has to respect his superior.

-a person,objet, idea etc that is introduced in the conversation for the first time:

Ana: A woman stopped me yesterday in the street.(Ana introduces the unknown element in the conversation)
Betty: Did you know the woman? (Betty asks a question by saying 'the woman' because the element 'woman'was already introduced in the conversation)

And what if the woman was familiar to both speakers?

Ana: The woman you introduced me yesterday stopped me in the street.
Betty: What did the woman say?

In this case Ana starts the conversation by saying 'the woman you introduced me'-which means a particular woman, one which is known by both of them.



The difference between 'a' and 'one'.

Many people do not know when to use 'a' and when to use 'one'.
a book- means 'any book', it does not point to any in particular
one book- since 'one' is a cardinal numeral , it refers to the quantity of objects:

I want one book, I don't need two books.